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Awareness of online and mobile payment options -- and the willingness to use them -- is increasing steadily across Asia. The technology takes different forms in different countries, but Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea have all seen gains.

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Targeting marketers in the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the globe, Millward Brown is bringing its consumer tracking service to mobile. "We are actively working to move more research onto mobile and we expect to survey more than a quarter of a million people across the region on mobile by the end of next year," said Gonzalo Fuentes, Millward's managing director for Southeast Asia.

Less than 10% of all digital banking transactions in Australia happen on mobile devices, but the outlook is for rapid growth. Small businesses are seen as the leading drivers, with mobile banking proving handy for transactions such as paying bills or employees.

About two-thirds of social media users in Australia used smartphones to access their accounts this year, an increase from about half in 2012, according to a survey from the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association and Yellow Pages. More than one-third of tablet owners used their devices for social networking in 2013, compared with 18% last year.

The BBC is going mobile in Myanmar with twice-daily audio news bulletins. Mobile penetration in the country is low, estimated at less than 10% of the population, but it "is set to grow exponentially," said Indu Shekhar Sinha, BBC World Service head of business development Asia Pacific.

With Asia due to emerge as the world leader in e-commerce over the next three years, brick-and-mortar retailers in the region are well advised to take the phenomenon of mobile showrooming into account, writes Rohit Dadwal, managing director MMA's Asia-Pacific branch. The quickest way to meet the challenge is to encourage in-store mobile usage and engage customers, taking advantage of the fact that "physical retail outlets are a consumer’s first opportunity to interact and engage with a product and brand," he writes.